Exterior doors for interior security doors

Exterior doors as interior security doors

Exterior doors for interior security doors can make a great addition to securing your home. When I was a kid, they made regular wooden doors inside homes. These were strong but the door frame was not very strong. They could still be easily kicked in. This is because the door frame was not very strong and it was the first thing that could break. Now, today’s interior doors are hollow inside. This is what they call hollow-core doors. Hollow core doors have a small amount of wood at the top and at the bottom of the doors. Those are there so that they can shim the doors if you need to in order to make the doors fit so that they do not rub against the bottom or the top of the door frames. The wood adds some stability to the door but the door is essentially glorified cardboard.

An exterior door is typically metal in construction and is much studier. The key to these doors being better safety doors is that they have a metal frame. They are harder to kick in. It is going to take some serious work to kick in a metal door if it is attached to the frame properly. When you attach the door frame in your home, you can secure it better with large lag bolts through your wooden 2×4 studs. This provides added strength and makes it harder to breach the door.

Which interior doors should be exterior doors?

I would pick a room that you can get to for a safety room such as a closet or a room that can fit your entire family in. In this way, you can use that room for a safe-room or a panic room. Have you ever seen the movie Panic Room with Jodie Foster. That was an enjoyable movie but few of us have lots of money to spend building a complex safe room like they had in that movie. It had security cameras inside, some outside phone lines and other features.

If though you have a room large enough to use as a panic room in your house, then go for it. Your expenses would be getting a good door. You may also have some expense if you choose to reinforce the walls with re-bar or other metal to keep out intruders. Then what if you want to put a security system into the room as well. These are all options that you can plan out. If you have the room and it is unfinished, it is easier to accomplish this. If it is finished already, then it is some extra work to accomplish your goal but not impossible. Drywall is easy to work with.

Installing an exterior door in the interior of your home

Once you have picked what room you want to use for your safe room, then it’s time to put the door in. Measure carefully where you would like the door to go. If there is an existing door frame already, then you can make use of that but I recommend removing that door and its casing and then using the exterior door’s frame instead. This should be made out of steel and should be reinforced to your walls for greater security. Consider which direction you want the door to swing. This is an important factor. You should have the door swing into the room you are trying to secure. In that way, you can brace it better and block it off if someone is trying to kick it in. A small wedge placed under the door can prevent a lot of force when someone is trying to pry the door open.

Choosing the style of your interior door

I recommend most people pick a door that blends in with their existing door styles in their house. A six-panel door or an eight-panel door is common in most people’s homes and these are usually white doors. You can find a metal door like this with the frame for not that much money. You don’t want to draw attention to the room you are trying to secure. You want it to appear to be just another room in your house. You can buy specific security doors which add some more level of security to the system. These types of doors are usually reinforced with more steel and are harder to breach. This also means that they are more expensive as well. Consider in the panic room that Jodie Foster used, they were essentially in a safe in their home and their door was very hard and very strong. Essentially with several locking mechanisms on it which give more stability than just one latch.